


Language Barriers

by miss_hula_girl



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 20-somethings, Cute, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 11:11:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6192769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_hula_girl/pseuds/miss_hula_girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a mysterious new girl moves into the building, Eren finds creative ways to flirt with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Language Barriers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [illegalgreek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/illegalgreek/gifts).



“There she is!” Eren hissed at Armin. “God, she so beautiful. That black hair and those dark eyes. I don’t think she speaks English though.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“She’s always reading books in some Asian language. And I’ve heard her talk on the phone to someone in another language.”

“Japanese,” Armin said, rolling his eyes.

“What?”

“Her book is Japanese and so is what she speaks on the phone. Jeeze, can’t you at least narrow the language down? Asian? Come on.”

“Well I don’t know! I didn’t study languages!” Eren continued to argue as he pushed the button to the elevator going down. He stopped talking when she came up to the elevator. They looked at each other, smiled and nodded. Then Eren changed the subject.

“So, do you have time off coming up?”

Armin looked a little confused, but continued, “Uh, yeah. I’m taking a long weekend next week. Going down to visit Annie for a few days. What about you?”

“Going to visit the girlfriend, huh? That’ll be nice. No, I’m not taking any time off. No girlfriend, so no long weekend trips.” Eren glanced over at the beautiful stranger from down the hall as the elevator dinged. She didn’t pull her nose out of her book until she had to step on the elevator. Eren gestured to let her go first onto the elevator. She smiled and walked on, with Eren and Armin following.

Eren continued to talk about girlfriends, specifically him not having one, glancing over to the lady every few seconds to gauge her reaction. Her attention never broke from her book. As they got off of the elevator, they gestured for her to go first, to which she nodded and smiled. She turned right out of their apartment building doors, they guys turned left.

After watching her walk away, Eren turned back to Armin. “I’m sure she doesn’t speak English! She never took her nose out of her book! What if I wanted to talk to her?”

Armin looked surprised, “Were you going to talk to her? What were you going to say?”

“I don’t know. What if I wanted to ask her out? I can’t do it in Japanese! I don’t know Japanese!”

“Well what if she’s bilingual? Or just flat out multilingual! She must know some English living and working here. Why don’t you just try talking to her?” Armin suggested.

“No, I have to figure this out. We see her almost every morning now, right? I’ll just do some tests to see!”

“You’re making this way too difficult. Anyway, see you after work,” Armin said as he entered his building and left Eren to walk the extra block to his.

The next morning, they met her at the elevator again, same nods and smiles, same gestures. In the elevator, Eren started the conversation with Armin.

“I think black hair is beautiful. Not too long, but not real short either. It’s just so shiny.” Eren tried to steal a glance to the side to see if the stranger reacted, but she had her face buried in her book.

Armin just rolled his eyes.

“What about you, Armin?”

“Well, I guess I’m traditional. This gentleman prefers his blonde,” he replied with no feeling. He couldn’t believe his friend was doing this.

And yet, his friend continued. Every day, Eren found a way to compliment the lady, just to see her reaction. He complimented dark, mysterious eyes, the Japanese culture, how beautiful a red scarf compliments a grey pea coat, and the different books he’s read or wants to read and how people who read them are just beautiful when they are so engrossed.

Armin was going nuts. Three weeks of these conversations. He had to stop it. Finally one day, as they were getting off the elevator after a stirring conversation about how gorgeous tall brown riding boots really work well with a sweater dress, he decided to make his move.

Eren continued his mostly one sided conversation. “I’m so glad it’s Friday! Thinking about getting a drink tonight. What do you think Armin?”

“Yeah, sounds great, care to join us, Mikasa?” Armin casually looked to the lady, who answered in perfect English.

“Sure!”

“Great, I’ll text you later. Bye!”

“See ya, Armin!” Mikasa turned right as the guys turned left.

However, Eren stood there in total shock.

“What the hell was that?? She speaks English? YOU KNOW HER?”

“Yeah, I met her when she first moved in. I helped her get into her mailbox. Remember how tricky they are at first? I talk to her once in a while.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? You let me look like an idiot!!” Eren was so flustered, he didn’t think he could ever look her in the eye again.

“Well, that was kind of her idea. She asked me about you and I told her some things. Then she asked about the conversations on the elevator, so I explained your thought process. This was after the first few days. She wanted to continue it, so she played like wasn’t paying us any attention and let it go. I was the one who had had enough.”

“Wait, why did she want to continue it?? I was talking about her!”

“She knew that. She was flattered. Mikasa told me her days were better after a nice elevator ride with you in the mornings. You made her feel better about herself. I guess she had been self-conscious after moving here and starting her new job. Like she wasn’t sure of herself. Hearing how you talked about her gave her an extra boost of confidence in the mornings.”

Eren stopped, much to the dismay of the other people on the sidewalk.

“Huh. Well, now what do I do?”

“You better ask her out on a real date tonight. She already knows how you feel. And she must feel the same way about you if she has put up with those cheesy elevator rides for this long.”

“Well shit. Now that I know she understands me, I don’t know what to say.” Eren started walking again, deep in thought.

Armin clapped his hand on his shoulder before he went into his building. “You’ve got about 8 hours to think about it. Don’t worry about it. You’ve got this! Have a good day!”

Eren continued down the street, smiling now. “Yeah, I got this!”

**Author's Note:**

> This was a gift fic to illegalgreek, because eremika is cute and so is she


End file.
